It’s been a long time since a Los Gatos High School girls tennis team was a Central Coast Section title contender.

That’s was, as in past tense.

The 2016 Wildcats saw to that last weekend when they backed up a thrilling 4-3 win over St. Francis in the semifinals with a 6-1 victory over St. Ignatius in the section finals.

Los Gatos had entered the CCS team tournament as the No. 2 seed behind No. 1 Saratoga. The Falcons, though, were upset by Not. 4 SI in the semi’s, setting up a championship match between two teams of Wildcats, a match that Gatos dominated from start to finish.

“I’m just thrilled to have this victory, especially for our seniors who are just the sweetest girls a person could ever hope to meet,” said Los Gatos coach Byron Nepomuceno. “Our team put together their absolute best effort in that match. We ended up with a strong 6-1 victory that just put exclamation point on our season.”

The CCS championship put impressive bookends on a sensational year for the Wildcats, who opened the year by winning the prestigious Golden State Invitational, a tournament that features the finest teams in the state.

The Cats swept through the CCS playoffs, beating unseeded Los Altos 6-1 and No. 7 Cupertino 6-1 before edging St. Francis 4-3 in the Saturday morning semi-final match at Lynbrook and topping SI in the finals later in the day on the same courts.

The section title is the first for Los Gatos since the Cats won a CCS crown in 1991. Gatos ended up second in the section in 1984, ’85 and ’94.

The semi match with the Lancers went right down to the wire.

Sophomore Ashley Yeh remained unbeaten for the season by rolling to a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles and junior Sarah Bahsoun won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2.

The Cats lost at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, and then again at No. 1 doubles.

“Things were looking shaky,” admitted Nepomuceno. “Then the No. doubles team of seniors Sydney Kim and Annie Hall steadied the ship a bit and won 6-1, 7-6. And it all came down to No. 3 doubles.”

Team captain Carrington Ratcliff and fellow senior Maddie Laskey lost the first set, but “in the second set they settled down and forced a third.”

The Gatos duo led the third set most of the way but “the girls suddenly had a bit of a battle with their nerves.”

The seniors battled back, though, “and closed out the match with a thrilling third set tie-break victory, sparking a joyous Wildcat on-court celebration.”

At that point, Los Gatos had to expect a title match against Saratoga, but St. Ignatius had other ideas. Those Wildcats pulled off an upset in a 4-3 semi win over the Falcons, similar to that recorded by Gatos.

“We were relieved that we didn’t have to deal with circus atmosphere of playing Saratoga,” said Nepomuceno. “For some reason, those matches become so contentious beyond just playing tennis.”

Los Gatos dominated SI in that final match, posting the 6-1 win that capped a solid 21-3 season for the Wildcats.

“St Ignatius has an extremely talented team and I have a ton of respect for

their coach, Craig Law,” said Nepomuceno. “I expected nothing but a tough battle from that squad. Their team may have been fatigued by the emotional swing that comes with battling a team like Saratoga, but their classy coach wanted no part of making that excuse.”

Seniors playing their final match for the Cats were Laskey, Ratcliff, Sydney Kim, Annie Hall, Anneline Pedersen and Kia Thorndahl.

“Ironically, as these girls will be sorely missed, it was a freshman—Maya Kurani—who clinched our finals match against St Ignatius. That shows that our future remains bright.”